


Aude Sapere

by tinybelle



Category: Alpha and Omega - Patricia Briggs
Genre: F/M, Murder, PTSD, Rape/Non-con Elements, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinybelle/pseuds/tinybelle
Summary: Anna has never truly faced the moments after she was created. Now, her wolf has decided it is time. Why was she needed? What was the catalyst of her horrors? Why was Leo creating wolves?
Relationships: Charles Cornick/Anna Latham
Kudos: 3





	Aude Sapere

Anna groaned silently to herself as she saw the tall man approach the shop door. Justin had been coming into the music shop everyday for the past week, and while she didn’t mind conversations with him, today was not the day for it. The extensive oldies section was up for inventory, and she didn’t have time to discuss classical pieces with him today. 

She smiled politely as he walked straight to her however, and tried to think of ways to convey just how busy she was. Justin's eyebrows lifted as he took in the clipboard and laser gun, and the boxes of normally neat records pulled out around her feet. After surveying the scene, his eyes met hers.   
“Hi. You look a little busier today than usual. Is this a bad time?” He said, smiling, revealing even, white teeth.   
Anna held back the sigh that nearly left her, grateful for the convenient opening. She ran her hand over her hair to restrain the baby curls that had sprung free of the ponytail that held her auburn hair.   
“Actually I mean, no, but….I really have to finish this section of inventory, or our manager is going to be really unhappy. He apparently needs these numbers by four today. I wish I could hang out though.” She added the last just to be polite, as she didn’t really mean it. She was taken back by the expression that briefly crossed his face. Anger? She wasn’t sure, and it was gone as quickly as it had come. 

Anna broke off trying to find another excuse, as just as quickly, Justin was earnestly nodding, both hands waving in the air.   
“ That’s totally fine, I get it. I’ve worked retail too. I just wanted…”   
At this, his voice trailed off and glanced down, his sudden shyness sending a pang of regret in Anna. He was really a nice guy. She shouldn’t be so picky.   
“Yeah, so, I just wanted to ask….”   
He looked up, his blue eyes finally meeting hers directly, and he braced a hand on the shelf next to her head, and leaned in, his cologne drifting to her nose. She had never noticed him wearing it before. It wasn’t a bad scent at all. She gazed at him expectantly, almost, but not quite expecting what would come next.   
Right, so, do you think we could do dinner sometime?” The words came out in a rush, but they held confidence.   
Anna was only momentarily shocked. She had been able to tell he was interested, and while the feeling was fairly mutual, she wasn’t sure he was something she wanted to start an actual relationship with. The slightly desperate look in his eyes stopped the practiced plea that she had plans.   
“Uh, sure, that’d be great.” She stammered, her voice only slightly tentative, even as her brain set up a chorus that begged to know what she was doing.   
Justin stood up straight, a sudden brilliant smile lighting his face. All of his earlier nervousness was gone, replaced by a happy energy. He shook his shoulders out and shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown leather jacket, and began to rock on his heels. The motion reminded Anna distinctly of highschool. He reminded her of the jocks she had gone to school with, just a few years back. His energy was infectious, and Anna smiled, feeling his eager happiness. 

“So, what do you think, tomorrow night sounds good? Pick you up around eight?” I was thinking the new hibachi place on Tremont looks good.”

As they finalized plans and exchanged numbers over the next few minutes, Anna mind wouldn’t stop asking what she was doing.   
I am going on a date, Anna told her stubborn brain. It’s been forever since I’ve dated and it’s time to get out. He’s nice and he knows Bach from Boticelli. 

Anna had no way of knowing then that she had just changed the trajectory of her entire life. 

Her very short life. 

******

Anna twirled in front of the mirror, the simple sky blue dress swinging just above her knees. Her brown eyes and auburn hair were set off by the silky fabric, and the sweetheart neckline and a line cut gave her curves that normally were hidden beneath her Northwestern hoodies and jeans.   
Her hair curled softly around her face to her shoulders. She had decided to leave it down for tonight, since she normally pulled it back into a low pony for convenience. She hadn’t worn much makeup, as she rarely did, and had only applied a bit of mascara, shimmery eye shadow. and blush to add color to her irish pale, freckled cheeks. Gloss turned her lips rosy.   
Glancing at the clock, she noticed that she had about 10 minutes to finish her primping, which she had started a couple of hours earlier. Dinner and a movie. Easy, simple. But she’d shaved her legs, so, also important.   
A lot of effort for this guy, her brain mused, as she affixed tiny silver, diamond studs to her earlobes. She debated adding earrings to her second holes, the ones she had gotten in a moment of rebelliousness in high school, but decided against it. “Keep it simple” she mumbled to herself, and slid her feet into the strappy silver sandals. 

A knock on her door told her that Justin was about 3 minutes early, but that was also right on time, in her book.”Punctual, point for him.” Anna thought as she took one last look in the mirror, and grabbed her little grey purse. This would be a fun night. It would. Anna squashed the nerves that pounded with her heartbeat and turned to open the door. 

___________________

Anna's heart pounded in her ears as she ran, stumbling and falling through the dense woods in the park. Oaks and maples surrounded her, silent sentinels to her terror.   
The moon was full and bright above her, turning the leaves and trees around her silver, but it wasn’t enough to see. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut, her jaw throbbing with pain and aching with every movement. Was it broken? Her ribs screamed at her, every breath a desperate attempt to live. A torrent of blood covered her face from a split eyebrow.   
She had lost her shoes forever ago. Her feet ached and stung from a multitude of cuts from the sharp rocks that stabbed her feet. Her dress hung in tatters, gaping holes and ragged strips where her beautiful blue dress used to be.   
Isn’t it morning now? What time is it? morning...  
How long had she been running? She felt like it had been miles. Three times now, she had thought that she had lost the creature, only to have been blindsided and taken down again. And let up again, to continue this….game. no...hunt. This hunt.   
Where was Justin?. Had he fallen to this creature? Her breath sobbed out, terror filling her again as she imagined the beast coming at her again, as it had so many times before.   
Keep moving….just keep moving….  
Blood oozed from scratches on her back, her thighs and belly. Dribbles flowed down to the ground, a scarlet trail of terror as she ran. A ragged cramp rolled through her abdomen, and she bit back a keening wail that wanted to escape. A finger felt broken, flopping limply on her hand as she stumbled, and she didn’t know from how or when it had happened. It was another brilliant pain in an ocean of aches. 

Keep ...going...

Anna struggled to form a coherent thought as the forest whirled around her. Terror sat thick on her tongue, her mouth dry from gasping for air. Her throat burned from screams. Why could no one hear her? 

Blackness swirled in oily patches at the edges of her vision. She wanted to stop. Stopping meant death. 

This thing would kill her. She didn’t want to die. She had so much left to do. 

I don’t want to die...please. She begged anything that would listen. Please, I don’t want to die. 

Every motion was agony. Her brain whirled, blackness gathering.   
Even as she had slowed to stop, to see if she could find a second to breathe, to stop the oncoming darkness, she heard a branch snap to her left. 

Even as she whipped her head toward the sound, her arm was clamped in impossibly strong jaws and brutally ripped to the right. Her body had no choice but to follow the brutal force, and Anna screamed as she felt her shoulder being ripped from the socket.  
As her head collided with the hard ground and bounced, Anna’s last coherent thought before her skull shattered was of her cello, if only she could play her cello, one last time….

Anna, in a moment of cosmic mercy, didn’t feel the teeth that took her final breath….and gave her first. 

*********

Anna screamed as she sat up straight in the bed. Her breath coming in gasps that finally reached her lungs, avoiding reliving the death that had come to her in her dream. 

She screamed again, this time in surprise, as Charles, mid-change, teeth bared and clawed hands holding an axe, burst through the pine wood door, his bulk splitting the frame into toothpicks. 

She scrambled back from him, her mind still reeling from the nightmare, mixing the beast in her dreams with the form of her husband which had already solidified back into the human form of her mate, magically clad in his red t-shirt and jeans. 

She screamed. And screamed. Finally coming back to herself, she looked around the room, taking in the familiar green of their room, and simple handcrafted furniture of heart pine. 

Only then did she realize that Brother Wolf had been crooning softly in her mind in an effort to calm her. 

Finally, her breathing stuttering, beginning to slow, did she finally grasp the sheets on either side of her, and look up into her husband's patient, and loving black eyes. He had already realized there was no threat to her, and his demeanor had calmed rapidly, giving her the change to regain her own composure in the face of his. 

“Charles….I ..I didn’t know you were back. When did you get in?” Anna asked, her voice raw. She dropped her gaze to the quilt in front of her.   
She avoided looking straight at him, knowing he could read her better than any book. 

“Just a moment ago. I pulled in and heard you scream.” Charles said, coming to sit next to her, and reaching to stroke a disheveled curl. His hand froze when she recoiled, and dropped back down to his side. 

“I’m, I’m sorry. I just..” She began, but found herself unable to finish.   
“You know you don’t need to apologize, my love, not to me.” Charles said, fighting his voice, so he could form normal words. Growling wouldn’t help, he thought, restraining brother wolf, who was desperate to take his fragile looking mate in his arms. Nightmares always left her seeming fragile to them, and this one had seemed worse than others. 

Speaking of which… “You haven’t had a nightmare in months, Anna.”. Finally, this time ignoring her flinch, he pulled his wife into his arms and breathed in her scent, his wolf's nose telling him her tale that her words would not allow. He smelled terror on her. Old terror, mixed with new, fresh fear. 

“How many nights have you dreamed like this?, “ He whispered into her silky hair, where she curled into his chest. He hated to pin her down like this, but sometimes his wife tried to be too strong for her own good. While he couldn’t compel his little omega wife to answer, he would know if she told a lie. 

“A couple of nights”, she whispered back, her voice resigned. She knew he could tell if she lied, so she didn’t try. The fact was, she almost wanted to tell him. Anna was finally to the point of exhaustion, of tiredness that even her wolf's spirit couldn’t bring back to her.   
Sensing her thoughts, Charles gently rubbed the tear tracks from her cheeks. “Anytime, anywhere. I will listen. You don’t have to be strong here.”   
“But….” Anna began, “if I don’t….I might…” .her voice trailed off, unable to complete the thought.   
She could never lose control. The pain was too much. It would take her.   
She suffers like an old one, brother wolf whispered in his head. Her spirit wavers. Her trial is too much. WE must HELP her! The last was frantic, as brother wolf contemplated losing his mate to the madness that subsumed so many wolves as the considered a life far longer than most mortals.   
“Anna”, Charles said,his voice firm, “look at me.” He raised her chin so she had to meet his eyes. The black was flecked with yellow, the effect odd, but Anna knew it was because she looked into the eyes of two beings that loved her. “You do not, do not, have to stay in control here. You can let go. I have you. I can put you back into your skin if need be, with our bond.” The phasing was odd, but Anna knew what he meant. Not that her wolf was mad, or even dangerous. Her wolf, still considered a pup by werewolf standards, was often known to frolic with the children, happily playing fetch and occasionally, even frisbee. 

Anna considered him for a few long moments, a battle waging within her. Charles, sensing her struggle, remained silent. Her trust would be her choice. 

“I don’t….I don’t know where to begin. You know what happened.” Anna said, rubbing her arms as chill bumps gathered on her skin. 

“Anna, your dreams, the nightmares….are they general dreams, or are they actual memories?” Charles asked, already knowing the answer. While he had never mentioned it to her, he sometimes saw pieces of her nightmares, and he knew them to be memories. 

“Memories...I think. I...I have started getting more pieces back...My wolf...after the first….few times, she took over when…. I don’t remember those as much.” Anna began to pull away, feeling as if she were dirty, contaminating Charles with the darkness inside her. Charles wasn’t having it this time. Normally, when she tried to pull away, he let her go. This time, he agreed with brother wolf that their mate needed to feel their strength, and their resolve, that she would be taken care of. He tightened his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap, clenching his teeth when he felt her heart rate spike. 

“Anna. breathe, my love.” He spoke softly into her ear. “I am not letting you go. You don’t get to stand on your own two feet for this. You will lean on me. You are safe here. Breathe. ”   
Anna tried to control her breathing, but suddenly she was sobbing, overwhelmed by the emotions. Fear from being held, fear that if he knew everything, her beloved Charles would leave her, shame, guilt, and anger, and hatred for everything that had happened to make her feel this way, grief for everything she could never have.   
Charles simply held her, allowing his wife to sob into his shirt. He had never seen her cry like this, and while he and brother wolf raged at the cause, they both knew the act would be cleansing for her, so they endured her tears in silence, arms wrapped firmly around her shaking form.   
Eventually, after about half an hour, the tears began to slow, and her breath began to hiccup. 

Ana felt like a child in his arms. She also felt safe but exhausted. She raised her head and wiped her eyes, and this time, knowing the worst was over, Charles let her pull away a bit, but still held her securely in the circle of his arms.   
He was ready to sit quietly and let her tell him what she needed. Anna turned to look at him, and her body wasn’t relaxed...it was subdued. She might have gotten a lot out, just now, but it had left her vulnerable and raw and hurting. He would have to tread carefully to avoid hurting his omega mate. The thought gave him pause. He would never willingly hurt his mate, but it gave him pause to wonder if he had in the past. He had a moment of pause as he considered that he rarely felt negative emotions from his Anna. How much was she holding back?   
Anna gave him a wavering, half hearted smile, that lasted only a moment, and bit back the apology that came first to her lips. Instead, she simply leaned forward and laid her lips gently on his, in what Charles thought might have been the most gentle, beautiful kiss she had ever felt, if only because of what it said for her.   
The sheer, simple trust and love in the motion was overwhelming. Charles shuddered and knew his eyes were golden yellow, as Brother wolf pushed to the front to take his due.   
In a move that rarely happened, Brother Wolf spoke using Charles mouth. “Mate. Ours. Forever.” Three words, but they spoke volumes.   
Anna stared at Charles, his yellow eyes not frightening her in the least. Used to Brother Wolf’s voice in her head, the guttural sounds coming from Charles mouth, gave her pause. Finally composed enough to speak, Anna said, simply, “I love you too, mate.” 

Charles laid Anna down on the bed, content to simply hold and comfort his wife. He had not expected the intensity of their morning, and it had also left him a little overwhelmed. He had told his wife he could handle it, and he could, but the thought occurred to him that an actual trained counselor might have her better off. Except there was no such thing that he was aware of. Ironically, his omega mate was the closest thing the packs had, aside from her Italian counterpart, an ocean away. 

“Charles?” Anna said, her voice stronger now. “ Yes?” Charles said. “Thank you...for, um, not….letting me go.” The last words came out in a rush, and Charles rolled to his side so he could look at her directly.. “Did it help?” He asked, his voice low, a little puzzled. “Y-Yes. I...It’s hard to explain.” Charles cocked his head to show she had his full attention. “ I...usually, I won’t...cant, let go. While I was...in Leos pack...I trained myself to never let go. Never cry.. But...when you wouldn’t let me go, holding me...it made me feel safe, like I didn’t have to have control.” Anna couldn’t decide if this was a good thing, and the contradiction made her head hurt. 

Charles sat up, and gently stroked her hair. Anna sat cross legged in front of him, her eyes firmly on her knees. “Anna, I meant what I said. While I know what happened, you have never told me the details. I know you don’t want to but I think...you may need to.” He allowed his voice to trail off, as her body had tensed, and she had turned her face away to avoid his gaze.  
“Look at me, Anna.” Her voice was firm, and she instinctively looked at him. He captured her chin in his hand and looked at her tear streaked face, digging deep to hold his control in the face of his mates pain. “I am not a counselor, to be able to fix things, but I can listen. I imagine you feel that, by you sharing your memories of those moments,….” Charles trailed off. He knew she avoided naming what had happened to her. So, now it was time to name the beast. “You were raped, Anna. Forced into sex against your wishes. Hurt. Beaten. Injured. Murdered.” She had frozen as he had spoken, and her eyes flared to the light blue that meant her wolf was ascendant. Charles considered the azul eyes considering him, and firmed his jaw. Her wolf had to let his mate stand on her own two feet. “Pretty wolf, with beautiful eyes. I thank you for protecting Anna during those times. But now it is time for her to face the memories of her time in Leo's pack. The memories are hers.”   
With a small snarl, the wolf jerked Anna's head up and down in a short simulacrum of a nod of agreement.   
It looked odd to see the jerky movement on Anna's normally graceful body, and as he watched, Anna's eyes faded back her chestnut brown. Reacting belatedly to what he’d said, she ripped herself out of his arms, her breath coming in short, harsh pants.  
“No. No. Charles….I don't, I can't remember. Please... don't ask that of me.” Even as she choked the words, she wrung her hands as she backed into the corner, her eyes firmly on the floor.   
His heart ached, sharp spikes of pain through his soul, and brother wolf roared in anger inside him. Knowing and accepting his eyes were gold, he took in the shrunken form of his wife, whom he loved more than life. Sitting up, be said, “My love, I wouldn't have asked it of you, except you are already remembering. This way, we know what to expect, and can deal with it. I will tell my father I need to stay close to home, so I can be here with you.”  
Anna simply stared at him in horror. She couldn't….”I'll... Charles. I'll go mad. I will. I can't deal with it.” Her wolf was in agreement. Full agreement with her mate, and she didn't know what to do.   
Reading her body, Charles stood. His voice firm, he stated. “You will come to me when you have memories, and we will deal with them together”. His voice gave her pause. She knew it was an alphas command, that she, an omega, didn't have to obey, but part of her, a very human part, wanted to. To have someone to share the hell with...but…  
Anna tried again, desperate now, feeling her control slipping away. “You'll leave. You'll find out what I really am, and you'll make me leave”. Her voice desperate, mind racing, she threw the accusations at him, knowing in her heart she was wrong, but her brain supplying her with the words anyway.   
“What you really are? My darling. My wife. My mate. My love. My soul. There is nothing, nothing you could show me that could make me leave you.” Charles spoke the words, knowing that she would feel his truth as he spoke them.   
Knowing she was close to collapse, he crossed the room. Reaching her, he grasped her as she crumpled, clasping her shaking body against his. She was cold, her skin covered with goosebumps, and he swung her into his arms, and in a few steps, took her to the bed again to warm her.   
Unable to speak, Anna lay, shaking with revelation. Somehow, knowing her wolf would begin to give her the memories back made it worse. When would it begin? When would it stop?. Would it be forever? Was this to be her eternity? She closed her eyes, biting her lip, holding onto Charles for dear life. She knew, knew in her heart of hearts, that everything he said was true. But her brain, her brain told her differently. Finally, what felt like hours later, she fell into a fitful sleep. How she wished she had never met Justin. 

******** 4 Years Earlier*****   
Leo sat in his office, staring blindly at the papers in front of him. How was he to make this work? The accounts were nearly empty. Dear God, he adored his mate, but, the clothes, and shoes and jewelry and trips…(and in one incredible instance, a 40-foot yacht), and they couldn't keep this up or he would literally lose the farm. He rubbed his face, exhausted from the stress. Of course, if she couldn't stop, she would fuck anything that would have her. And some that wouldn't. And then sometimes, she took it too far, killing those she had taken her pleasure from. Even knowing his mate was mad, was no solace. He could not live without his beautiful Isabelle. If he couldn't keep her distracted, she would draw the attention of the Marrok, and Isabelle would die. She was old. So old, and crazy with it, but damn it, he loved her.   
So. Money. How was he to get the money? Pondering the question, he began his shift. It was time for the moon hunt. 

***3 months later***  
Leo sat stiffly across from the man in the classic cut black suit. Even an alpha werewolf such as he knew when they were outmatched and this one had him by the balls. Swallowing, he looked away from the photo of the boy, lying naked and dead on hotel sheets. Cold sweat rolled down his back. The photos were horrific. Mutilated. Torn and ripped. Gutted. Savaged. Entrails lay across the bed in slashes of abstracted horror on white silk. Green staring eyes, forever held their last moments of terror, never to find peace. Red bloodied lips, bitten though. Isabelle had truly gone too far, and this….he wasn't sure he could get her out of. Deep inside, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Other pictures had shown her kissing the boy in the elevator, and leaving the room, clean and composed. She was cold enough to have cleaned herself up from the bloodbath she had reveled in. Killing for the sake of killing. A monster, fully over the line that hid them from the humans. He released a breath that shuddered with things to come. True madness meant death. Hers, and his.   
“Thirteen.” the man's smooth voice whispered out as he reached across and tucked away the photo, the last in the series of scarlet-soaked images he had laid out like a series of falling dominoes. Leo had heard each one fall with every beat of his heart. “The boy was thirteen.” 

Leo swallowed hard. Quietly, as his breath had failed him, he asked, “What do you want?” 

A sharks smile from the man in the black suit. Leo saw his future in that smile, and it was hellish. 

“Wolves.” 

***********


End file.
